Air quality in the Houston Ship Channel region : an environmental and land use analysis

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Abstract

Despite federal, state, and local efforts to combat environmental injustices
resulting from heavy industrial activity and high air pollution levels, there is a widespread
tendency for hazardous industrial activities to locate near low-income, underrepresented
ethnic populations in the United States. The Houston Ship Channel, a port containing the
largest concentration of Petrochemical Facilities in the United States, evidences this
tendency and provides a stellar example of the nexus between poverty, race, industrial
location, and air pollution levels. As a result of the heavy industrial activities in the East
Houston area adjacent to the Houston Ship Channel, the surrounding residential area’s air
quality levels are significantly poor in relation to federal, state, and local standards. Not
coincidentally, these neighborhoods are predominantly low-income and Hispanic in
makeup. Unfortunately, there exist few or no federal or state accountability and
enforcement mechanisms to resolve this serious problem. In addition, Houston’s lack of
zoning and weak land use regulations provides little opportunity for the situation to
improve. Although community organization efforts have succeeded in terms of
mobilization, education, and consensus building, more effective local planning tools,
supported by federal regulations and applied research, would serve to remove the
roadblocks that have hindered the advancement of policies promoting enhanced air
quality controls, and thus improve the quality of life of the residents of East Houston.